Article by Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Kevin Gallagher, Megan Ceronsky and Tomás Carbonell
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Commentary
In his meeting with Senate Republicans, President Obama advocated for climate change legislation, and pushed aside suggestions for more limited energy-only legislation . . . Senator Lindsey Graham, however, is headed toward a more limited package for 2010 . . . Senator Lisa Murkowski will have the floor on June 10 for her Resolution of Disapproval of EPA's endangerment finding . . . Sixty major companies and organizations claiming to have more than 1 million employees sent a letter to Senate leadership asking that "Democrats and Republicans . . . unite behind bipartisan, national energy and climate legislation that increases our security, limits emissions, and protects our environment while preserving and creating American jobs." . . . The Tropical Forest & Climate Coalition – a coalition of major NGOs and companies – sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid asking for a set-aside of funds to support activities to reduce deforestation, and crediting for "REDD" project-based activities. Both elements were in the Waxman-Markey bill.
Executive Branch
- Obama Meets With Senate GOP Caucus to Advocate for Climate Legislation. President Barack Obama visited Capitol Hill for a 90-minute discussion with Senate Republicans on his legislative agenda for the rest of the year, including the prospects for comprehensive climate change and clean energy legislation. According to a White House statement, the President told the caucus that the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico "should heighten our sense of urgency to hasten the development of new, clean energy sources that will promote energy independence and good-paying American jobs." Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that the topic of passing a clean energy bill without a mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation component arose, but that the President was "not particularly" supportive of that approach. The President struck a similar note at a press conference later in the week, in which he called the oil spill "a wake up call that it's time to move forward on this legislation."
- U.S. Navy Issues Strategic Plan on Climate Change. Calling climate change "a national security challenge with strategic implications," the U.S. Navy's Task Force on Climate Change released a three-phase strategic plan for adapting to and preparing for climate change. The report concluded that sea level rise related to climate change is already affecting low-lying Navy bases around the world, as well as the Navy's access to natural resources. The report also called for the Navy to include instruction on climate change in coursework offered at the U.S. Naval Academy; to incorporate climate change into war games; and to work with other federal agencies to improve climate models to better inform the Navy's missions.
Congress
- Graham Suggests Climate Bill Without Carbon Price. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who withdrew in April from efforts with Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) to craft an energy-climate bill, told reporters that he did not believe there were 60 votes for capping carbon and expanding offshore drilling given the on-going oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Expanded offshore oil drilling had been viewed as part of a compromise energy-climate bill that could attract the votes of moderate Democrats and Republicans who support domestic drilling. Sen. Graham said he remains open to the Kerry-Lieberman proposal, but suggested that a smaller energy-climate bill with support for nuclear power and alternative energy technologies – and without a price on carbon – would be more achievable. Subsequently, however, Sen. Graham told reporters that it was necessary to put a price on carbon within the power production sector to "jump-start" alternative technologies, while other sectors potentially could be encouraged to reduce emissions through other means.
- June 10 Vote on Murkowski Resolution. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has reached an agreement with Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to have a June 10 vote on her Resolution of Disapproval of EPA's finding that GHG emissions endanger public health and welfare. Under the Congressional Review Act, debate will be limited to 10 hours and the Resolution only requires 51 votes to pass. Sen. Murkowski's office says she currently has 41 co-sponsors. If passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by President Obama, the resolution would reverse EPA's finding, which is the basis for regulation of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act, and would prevent EPA from taking any similar action to regulate GHG emissions unless explicitly authorized by Congress.
Judicial
- Friends of the Earth Seeks to Overturn Lifecycle GHG Assumptions in RFS. Friends of the Earth filed an administrative request for reconsideration with EPA, and a petition for review with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenging assumptions about the lifecycle GHG emissions of biofuels that were adopted by EPA in its latest Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) regulations. The RFS requires refiners to purchase an increasing volume of eligible renewable fuels through 2022, and demonstrate compliance by submitting RFS credits. Renewable fuels must meet minimum lifecycle GHG criteria in order to become eligible for credit under the RFS system. According to the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental organization which filed the petitions on behalf of Friends of the Earth, the challenges are based on EPA's alleged failure to consider potential expansions of cropland and a possible "rebound" effect under which diminished purchases of fossil fuels in the United States due to the RFS would cause lower prices and therefore increased purchases of such fuels in other countries.
States and Cities
- State Agencies Oppose Using Clean Water Act to Regulate CO2. In response to an EPA request for comment, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) opposed the use of Clean Water Act authority to address ocean acidification caused by CO2 emissions. NACWA, which represents state water agencies nationwide, argued that the Clean Water Act was intended for regulation of pollutants that are directly discharged into water bodies, and said that using the Clean Water Act to regulate CO2 emissions would cause unacceptable "diversion of resources" from existing water pollution control efforts. The comments were filed in a proceeding in which EPA solicited comment on factors to consider when establishing pH quality criteria for water bodies; if EPA were to establish such criteria, it could take steps to establish "total maximum daily loads" (TMDL) for CO2 absorption in waterways. The comments are available at: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/contentStreamer?objectId=0900006480af1da4&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf .
- Maryland County Imposes Carbon Tax on Local Power Plant. Montgomery County, MD, voted to impose a carbon tax of $5 per ton of CO2 on stationary sources with CO2 emissions exceeding 1 million tons per year. The only facility in the county that presently exceeds that emission threshold is the 850 MW Dickerson coal-fired power plant, owned by Mirant Corp. The carbon tax is expected to generate approximately $10-15 million in revenue per year, 50% of which is to be allocated to county-wide GHG reduction programs. The allocation of the remaining revenue is not specified in the bill. Information on the decision is available online here .
Industry and NGOs
- Industry-Labor-Environmentalist Coalition Urges Passage of Climate Legislation. A 60-member coalition including American Electric Power, the Edison Electric Institute, Exelon, Ford, General Electric, Google, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, and The Nature Conservancy sent a letter to President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (D-KY) arguing for swift action on climate legislation. The companies and organizations signing the letter, twenty-seven of which are also members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, claim to have combined revenues of $1.2 trillion and more than 1 million employees. The letter does not specifically endorse the Kerry-Lieberman bill, but calls for "Democrats and Republicans to unite behind bipartisan, national energy and climate legislation that increases our security, limits emissions, and protects our environment while preserving and creating American jobs."
- TFCC Calls for Set-Aside, REDD Project Crediting. The Tropical Forest & Climate Coalition, an alliance of industry, environmental groups, and development organizations, wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to ask that a climate bill dedicate 5 percent of allowances to build the capacity of tropical countries to curb deforestation. The letter also calls for "time limited" crediting of offset projects that reduce deforestation emissions as measured against project-level (rather than state- or national-level) deforestation baselines. Both the allowance set aside and project-level crediting appear in the Waxman-Markey climate bill passed by the House of Representatives in June of 2009. Organizations signing the letter include American Electric Power, Conservation International, Duke Energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, PG&E Corporation, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
- IETA Proposes "Green Bond" Mechanism for Developing Country GHG Reductions. The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), an organization of 171 companies and institutions that actively participate in GHG markets, released a concept paper proposing a new financing mechanism to provide capital for GHG reduction projects in developing countries. Called "green sectoral bonds," the mechanism would allow private investors in countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to invest in bonds backed by developing country governments as well as multilateral development organizations. Bond proceeds would be distributed by developing country governments for GHG reduction projects, and would yield interest in the form of carbon credits. The system would be overseen by a new governing body independent of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism. The paper claims that the proposal has "the potential to unlock significant amounts of currently untapped resources from capital markets into climate abatement and mitigation projects." Prominent members of IETA include American Electric Power, Deutsche Bank, Dow Chemical, EcoSecurities, General Electric, Natsource, TransCanada, and Xcel. The concept paper is available at: http://www.ieta.org/ieta/www/pages/download.php?docID=3467 .
Studies and Reports
- EIA Projects 43% BAU Emission Rise by 2035. The Energy Information Administration's (EIA) 2010 International Energy Outlook projects that global CO2 emissions will increase 43 percent between 2007 and 2035 if major emitting nations do not change existing energy policies and emission rates. The report projects a 49 percent increase in energy usage between 2007 and 2035, as increases in output per capita and population growth overwhelm projected declines in carbon and energy intensity. Most of the energy usage increase would come from countries outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); energy consumption in such developing countries is projected to increase by 84 percent. By 2035, non-OECD CO2 emissions would be double those of the OECD. The report is available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/index.html .
- Research Projects Rapid Polar Bear Decline. A study to be published in Biological Conservation analyzed how polar bear physiology, behavior, and ecology would change under warming conditions. The research found that longer ice-free seasons would result in lower pregnancy rates and more starvation, but that bear populations may remain fairly stable for some time. Lead author Dr. Péter Molnár told the BBC that at some point, the effects of climate changes on polar bears will reach a "tipping point" followed by rapid declines in bear reproduction and survival. The article is available online here .
International
- Climate Negotiations Begin in Bonn. On May 31st in Bonn, Germany, the Subsidiary Bodies to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) began the first large-scale negotiations since the Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen in December of 2009. The Ad-hoc Working Groups on the Kyoto Protocol and on Long-term Cooperative Action, the two fora for negotiations on an international agreement that could extend or replace the Kyoto Protocol, have also been added to the Bonn agenda. The draft text from the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action includes language that would require major developing economies to "measure and verify" their domestic efforts to reduce GHG emissions, a key demand of the United States that has been opposed by developing countries such as China. This will be the final set of negotiations under Yvo de Boer, who will be replaced by Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres as executive secretary of the UNFCC in July.
- EU Commission Issues Policy Paper on Costs of Emission Reductions. The European Commission issued a Communication estimating the costs of achieving a 20 percent reduction in European Union (EU) GHG emissions relative to 1990 levels by 2020 at $58.5 billion annually by 2020 (versus a pre-recession estimate of $85.3 billion annually). The Communication estimates the costs of achieving a 30 percent reduction in GHG emissions relative to 1990 by 2020 at $98.7 billion annually. EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the European Union should consider the deeper target because it would make it easier to reach the long-term target of an 80 percent reduction in emissions relative to 1990 levels by 2050 and help drive economic recovery by spurring investment in low-carbon technologies. Prior to the Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen, the EU had agreed to the 20 percent reduction target by 2020 but had offered to increase the target to 30 percent if other countries made similar pledges, which did not occur. The Communication is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/future_action_com.htm .
- Indonesia Stops New Logging for 2 Years; $4 Billion Pledged for REDD. Developed countries gathered for the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference pledged $3.9 billion to help poor countries Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) from 2010-2012. The parties agreed on a framework for fast implementation of REDD measures, and to include representatives of stakeholders, such as indigenous peoples. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a 2-year moratorium on new logging concessions in return for up to $1 billion from Norway to reduce deforestation in Indonesia.
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